UC Berkeley Loses Key Patent Ruling

BERKELEY, CA — A U.S. patent tribunal earlier this week ruled against UC Berkeley in a move that figures to have seismic financial implications.

A group led by UC Berkeley had sought coveted patent rights to a gene editing tool, but an appeal board of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Monday ruled in favor of MIT and Harvard.

UC Berkeley officials in a statement acknowledged being “disappointed” with the ruling an said they’re mulling “options to challenge” it.

The Patent and Trial Appeal Board (PTAB) ruled that patent applicants MIT and Harvard (the “Broad” group) used foundational CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing system in eukaryotic cells before UC Berkeley, which is part of the “CVC” group that also includes the University of Vienna and Emmanuelle Charpentier.

The ruling could cost the University of California between $100 million and $10 billion in licensing revenues, a University of Illinois law professor with an expertise in scientific patent law told The Mercury News.

“This means that a number of UC Berkeley’s patents that are directed to the canonical CRISPR system — when used in the cells of higher organisms, like humans — are not valid,” Jacob Sherkow told the news outlet.

In 2020, UC Berkeley’s Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier, director at the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology in Berlin, Germany, were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry “for the development of a method for genome editing,” notably the first time the Nobel Prize has been shared by two women.

Since first disclosing their groundbreaking work in 2012, Doudna and Charpentier have each continued to lead the global development and ethical application of CRISPR technology, school officials said.

"Their efforts have helped to establish a “CRISPR economy” of new, innovative companies and research projects for the betterment of humankind," UC Berkeley said in a statement.

“The University of California is disappointed by the PTAB’s decision and believes the PTAB made a number of errors," school officials added.

“CVC is considering various options to challenge this decision.”